Laser-assisted consolidation of fiber-reinforced thermoplastics

Project Title

Laser-assisted consolidation of fiber-reinforced thermoplastics

Identification code

LUABA22014

Funding provider

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

Programme

INTER-ACTION-LUABA22

Project Coordinator

University of West Bohemia in Pilsen / New Technologies – Research Centre

Partners

Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg (OTH Regensburg)

Project start

07/2022

Project end

12/2024

Abstract

The project is focused on laser consolidation of fibre-reinforced thermoplastics. The main goal of the project is to verify the possibilities of using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the process of winding thermoplastic composites, ie the production of structural components reinforced with long fibres. In the future, this method will enable the detection of possible defects (bubbles, cracks) during material processing and thus contribute to reducing the scrap rate of manufactured products and to reducing the consumption of material resources and their costs. The results of OCT will be compared with the results of non-destructive thermographic testing. This will make it possible to compare the resolution of the thermographic and OCT methods concerning the image representation of defects. Knowledge of the optical properties of thermoplastics, especially their transmittance, reflectance, absorptivity coefficient and scattering, is key for appropriate tuning of OCT method parameters. These properties and thermographic analyzes will be measured within the project in the research centre NTC UWB in Pilsen. Results of this project will serve as a basis for the preparation of a joint project within the INTERREG Bavaria-Czech Republic 2021-2027 program.

Total project cost

1 197 500 CZK

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